Three months after Iran dismantled large parts of its nuclear program, in compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action—the international nuclear deal—the country’s Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, declared last week in New York that the United States is falling seriously short of its commitments. Iran’s Central Bank chief, Valiollah Seif, delivered a similar message during his first meeting with Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, on April 14th, and he told the Council on Foreign Relations, “Nothing has happened.”
Secretary of State John Kerry addressed some of these concerns on Friday. Standing next to Zarif, during their second meeting in four days, Kerry said that the nuclear deal opened “opportunities for foreign banks to do business with Iran,” and that Washington would not stand in their way. The Obama Administration also announced that it was buying thirty-two metric tons of heavy water from Iran, for almost nine million dollars. Iran had already exported the matériel as part of the nuclear agreement, but it had been stuck on ships off Oman. It will be stored at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and later resold for industrial and research use, the State Department said.
In an interview last week, Zarif discussed various sticking points in relations between Washington and Tehran. The interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
http://www.iranreview.org/content/Documents/Iran-s-Foreign-Minister-Interview-with-the-New-Yorker.htm
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